Online Friends are Real Friends

 

Today a notification came up that it was a friend's birthday. A friend who passed away last year. She was part of a group that I talk with everyday. A few met her in person, but for others, like me, our friendship was completely online.

I grew up in a world without the internet and I first got online in my 2nd year of college. I was a huge geek and didn't have too many real life friends who shared my interests. But all of a sudden I could speak to people all over the world who had similar interests.

It's been 24 years since I first dove headfirst into the internet and things have changed a lot. But some of my best and most enduring friendships are ones I've made online. I'm still friends with a few people from my early days online. 

But my main friend group came about because we had a love for a specific perfume. A friend of mine gave me a sample of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab at the Michigan Ren Faire in 2004. I loved it and I've never been a perfume person before. But these were (and are) magical. When I looked them up on the internet, I found that they had a forum which I joined.

I don't post on the forum as much as I used to, but I try to check it every few days. There are also several groups on Facebook and one is where I spend a lot of my online time. We talk about everything and the friend we lost told the best stories.

Even though I never met her in person, I loved her. She was my friend and I miss her so much. I love my other friends too. Some I've met in person, some live on the other side of the world, but thanks to the internet we can talk and connect.

So chat with your friends, enjoy their virtual company because you will be sad when they are gone.

Why I Love Social Media

Image: computerclipart.com

20 years ago, I first discovered the internet. It was 1996 and I was in my 2nd year of college. In those days, forums were the main way to communicate with lots of other people. I found a forum for Star Wars fans and suddenly I had all these like-minded friends.

While the internet has changed a great deal from those days, I still use it every day. In fact, most of my life is run by the internet. I work from home via the internet, I do all my banking and bill paying via the internet and of course, I use it to talk to my friends.

I have local friends but most of my close friends live far away from me. I'm an an introvert with chronic pain so there are days I don't leave the house. But I do long for human contact outside of my husband and child.

This is why I love social media. I can talk to my friends without having to leave my house. Some of my closest friends are people I've been friends with for years but have never met in person. A lot of my friends are also people I only see one a year at conventions that I talk to a lot over social media (mostly Facebook).

I never understand why people want to take breaks from Facebook. More power to them if that helps them out, but I could never do it. While Facebook isn't perfect, it works for what I use it for. I can message people directly, I can see what people are up to and I can talk with people who share the same interests in private groups.

A friend of mine is very ill. We are part of the same private group and most of the posts from this weekend were us worrying over lack of news. Praying and sending good thoughts and just huddling together via the internet as we worried and worried. I probably checked Facebook for updates every five minutes. Once we got an update, the relief was palpable. She still very ill but she's still with us.

Also after the shooting in Orlando, it was nice that my friends who live there were able to mark that they were ok. And of course, social media gives people a chance to mourn these awful tragedies together.

Social media isn't perfect, and I'd love to be able to get together with my friends in person. But until science finds a way to make transporters a thing, social media will have to do.

A Sister to Every Girl Scout

Early in the the school year, Emily came home all excited. The local Girl Scout troop had come to her school and she really wanted to join. We all went to the informational meeting that happened and signed her up.

I was a Girl Scout briefly - I don't remember why I stopped and became a Camp Fire Girl instead. But there is a lot of similarities I'm seeing between Camp Fire and Girl Scouts. Lots of crafts, fun with friends, earning patches and camping.

Emily was very excited to start attending as well as to get her own vest and patches. She is a Daisy right now and part of what they are learning in the whole Girl Scout code. They get a petal for each one they learn.

One of the last ones is 'Be a sister to every Girl Scout'. Emily loves her fellow Girl Scouts and I think it's a really great idea. It's a community of girls, their siblings and their parents. Community and friendship is something that can last a lifetime!

I don't know how long Emily will want to be a Girl Scout, but she's learning a lot of good skills, making friends and getting great opportunities. This Saturday, she'll be marching with her troop in the Fletcher Christmas Parade. Next month, it will be her first camping trip, which she is very excited for.

One of the best things about our troops (and others, I have no idea) is that the leader ask for the girls' feedback on what they want to do. It's all about them growing and learning.

I'd highly recommend Girl Scouts to any girl. They form bonds and have fun while learning!

A Global Community

Last night, I was doing something fairly normal. Emily had been bugging me for a few days to play Kingdom Hearts so she could watch and try to read some of the dialogue. While I was trying to beat a boss battle, something horrible happened in Paris.

Once I got online, while Emily was getting her pj's on. I started reading about it. My Facebook feed was filled with pictures of the Eiffel Tower, words of comfort in French and the Twitter hashtag for people in Paris to use to find somewhere safe to go.

It reminded me of a day many years ago. I was in my last year of college, and I was playing a video game because I didn't have class until later. One of my roommates came to my door to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Even though I don't live in France, last night made me feel a little like it was 9/11 all over again. I thought it might just be me because I've been feeling anxious and out of sorts this week. But when I posted my feelings on Facebook, several friends said that they felt the same.

Thanks to the internet, I have friends all over the world. Granted most of them live in the US, but spread out. I do have friends across the pond and in other countries. My friends, even though I only know most of them via the internet, are very important to me. In one group, a friend posted that she loved us all. The feeling was quite mutual, for I love my friends very much even if I've never met them in person.

We are becoming a global community thanks to the internet. We can share our sorrow for the lives lost in Paris, and huddle around the computer to get information. But we can also use this internet to comfort one another in times of tragedy. We share our joys as well.

I'll have more to say about the goodness that can come from social media later. But I'm very happy to be part of a global community. It has allowed me to become friends with some awesome people I would never have met without the internet.

Online Friends are Just Friends

Image: theiddm.wordpress.com

Today I'm grieving a friend who passed away suddenly yesterday. I never met her in person, but she was still a wonderful and dear friend. I met her on a forum that started for a very special kind of perfume, but over the years it became such more. Even though I had never met Kathy in person, we had been friends over a decade.

When I was a kid, I never had a lot of friends. I've always been an introvert and being a geek didn't help matters. Now that I'm older, I don't get out a lot. In part because of my chronic pain but in part because I'm still an introvert.

But the internet gives us the ability to be able to make friends all over the world. Even though I may never met most of my online friends in person, they are still my friends. We share our lives and our issues thanks to social media. Online friends share in our triumphs and help with our issues by giving advice. Even though I didn't get a lot of visitors in the hospital last year, my online friends were there in the internet.

Today my little slice of the internet is mourning our loss. Kathy was our friend and her sudden passing is shocking and sad. But I'm thankful for all my friends, online and off, because they bring joy to my life.

Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always – A Children’s Book

Image: http://us.penguingroup.com

Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always is a new children’s book by award-winning author and illustrator Tao Nyeu. This book is comprised of four short stories revolving around the ups and downs of friendship of two underwater creatures, Squid and Octopus.

Friendship is a complex subject and it can be one that is hard to grasp for very small children. As kids get a little older and form their own friendships, Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always can help mirror some situations kids will get into as they make friends. The stories cover subjects such as how to deal with disagreements, being there when your friend is upset, and what to do if you are a little different.

Emily has had several best friends in her short life, and she is able to relate her friendships with the one that Squid and Octopus have. Tao Nyeu‘s illustrations are very cute and really helps to bring the message of friendship in the stories across.

I would highly recommend Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always, especially for preschool and kindergarten ages.

Note: I received a copy of this book for review purposes.